Getting back on your feet
by EL Grand Loco 82
Summary: Fievel is back home with his family again, but is now haunted by all the bad things that happened while they were separated and fears losing his family all over again. His family and friends try to help him as best they can, but a pigeon named Henri and a certain statue he just finished may just be what Fievel needs to overcome his traumas.
1. Home again

It was a pleasant night at the Mousekitwitz home especially now that little Fievel was finally home. Papa happily played his violin and Fievel and Tanya danced around arm and arm. Tanya couldn't have been happier finally getting to dance with her brother again and Papa happily played on his violin. It was like they were all back home in Russia once again, even Mama who was still trying to get Yasha to sleep couldn't have been happier to have her family whole again.

Of course the little purse they lived in wasn't nearly as big as their home back in Russia so Fievel and Tanya were knocking down more than a few objects as they twirled each other. But neither Papa nor Mama minded, it was worth it just to have the whole family back together again.

When the children had finally tired themselves out Papa offered to tell them a story, but the story everyone really wanted to hear was all about Fievel's adventure in America. The family had gotten bits and pieces from Tony, Bridget and Tiger and Fievel did mention climbing into a bottle in the ocean, but he never really talked about everything that happened to him while they were separated.

Papa however felt it was best not to press the issue, having been an orphan himself; he knew how hard it is when you suddenly find yourself alone, especially in a strange land. He felt that Fievel would open up when he was ready to and was just content having his son alive and back home. Since having gotten home Fievel had never gone very far from Papa. In fact he pretty never wanted to leave either Papa or Mama's side, he wouldn't even come to the top of the purse to look down at the city or up at the stars, though Tanya had invited him outside several times, he always just wanted to stay in like he was afraid to go out.

After once again telling his children the tale of The Giant of Mouse Minsk, Papa sent Tanya to bed but decided to have an extra moment with Fievel. Tanya looked back with a bit of a worried expression wondering if her brother was really okay after everything he had been through, she just wish that Fievel would talk about it.

Fievel climbed up on his Papa's lap as Papa pulled his son close, "Fievel" Papa said with a bit of a melancholy expression, "you know I lost my parents when I was a boy" he said "I know what it's like to suddenly find yourself lost and alone, so if you ever want to talk about anything, you know I'm always here for you."

"I know Papa" said Fievel trying to put on a brave face, obviously covering up whatever he was really feeling at the moment.

"Get some sleep my son" said Papa smiling "we have a big day ahead of us selling violins"

"I can't wait" Fievel said excitedly, his look and demeanor now looking much more genuine. Fievel couldn't wait to help his papa sell violins; he also couldn't wait for his papa to finally teach him to play. He never had a chance when he was in Russia, but now that they were together again Papa said that he would finally teach him how to play his special song.

Fievel changed into his night gown and crawled into bed next to his sister, Mama gave him a good night kiss "good night my darlings" she said leaving the room. "Good night Mama" both Fievel and Tanya said at once.

Fievel closed his eyes and tried to think happy thoughts to put himself to sleep, just then he heard the voice of his sister beside him. Tanya really didn't want to wake Fievel up, but she didn't get to have any time with her brother since he got home always attaching himself to either Papa or Mama. She really wanted to know something about his adventure, even if it was something small, well she decided to start small and then work her way from there.

"Fievel" Tanya asked in a whisper

"Yes?" Fievel asked with his eyes still closed

"Did you really come up with the idea for the secret weapon?" She asked, though she had already known he had, but this seemed as good a place as any to start.

"I had an idea" Fievel answered back still with his eyes closed and not even facing his sister.

"How did you come up with it?" she asked

"Can I tell you later?" Fievel said back in a voice that made it all to clear he really just wanted to be left alone.

"Oh sure" Tanya said turning herself to face away from her brother, she couldn't help but be a little upset and sad, all she wanted was to help her brother, but as Papa said they couldn't push him and that Fievel would open up when he was ready to. But still, it broke her heart to think that whatever Fievel was going through, he was going through it completely alone.

That always worried her when they were separated, the thought of her brother lost and alone, she had actually been pretty happy when she learned that he had made some friends and was amazed one was even a cat. But it was pretty clear that those friends weren't always there and Fievel really did have to fend for himself. Not to mention that place where they had found him, Tony suggested they look around orphan alley, he had lived there himself, said it was the saddest place in the city full of nothing but broken dreams and lost hope. Tanya was someone who was full of hope even when the family was at their lowest, she was even writing a song called "Dream to Dreams" all about hopes and dreams, and she couldn't imagine a night in a place where it was all gone.

By this time Fievel had completely fallen asleep, it started out dreamless but quickly turned into a nightmare, a nightmare about the night he lost his family. He was back at the top of the ship and the waves were all turning into giant monsters, pounding the ship one after the other.

"Papa, help!" Fievel screamed as one big monster wave came and literally threw him overboard. He then heard the sounds of Papa frantically screaming his name as the ship moved one way and he was washed the other. Then in a flash he was standing next to Warren T. Rat in front of an opening door, thinking it's his Papa on the other side. Only for a giant hand to pick him up and reveal a scary face of a giant rat named Moe, who laughed maniacally scaring Fievel literally half to death. It was then he realized that Warren T. had just sold him to a sweat shop and was never going to let him see his family again.

"What about my family?" Fievel asked

"You don't need a family kid, you god a job here" Warren T responded

The images finally stopped when he finally heard the voice of his sister whispering in his ear, telling him everything was okay. Fievel had been talking in his sleep, repeating everything he had seen and heard, Tanya wrapped her arms around her brother in an attempt to comfort him

"It's okay Fievel" she said "it's okay, I'm here" she saw that her brother really did need her help, just like when he was lost and she believed he was still alive. She didn't give up on him then and she wasn't going to give up on him now.

To be continued.


	2. Bullies and Friends

Mama was preparing breakfast for the family, all the while giving Yasha her daily breakfast of milk from a bottle. Fievel slowly came walking in robbing his sleeve against his eyes trying best to cope after the night he just had. Tanya followed behind him tying her red busuka around her head.

"Good morning my darlings" Mama said "you had a good night? "

"Yes Mama" Fievel lied; still trying to act like everything was okay.

Tanya put a hand on her brother's shoulder knowing full well that he had done anything but slept well the night before. Fievel quickly shook off the contact trying to avoid anything that would give away that anything was wrong with him. He hated doing such a thing to Tanya and being around her was hard enough. He still remembered Tanya happily telling him that she knew that he was alive and how Mama and Papa both thought he was dead. He didn't want Tanya thinking that there was something wrong with him, he didn't want any of the family thinking that, but he felt more comfortable around Mama and Papa then he did around Tanya who had put such faith in him, faith that not even his own parents put in him.

Papa joined them and Mama served breakfast for the family, Fievel despite being a big eater, severed every piece of his food, still remembering what it was like to be starving on the streets.

"So Fievel are you ready to help me sell some violins?" Papa asked

"Yes sir!" Fievel responded enthusiastically

Papa chuckled, he was more than happy to see moments when his son was actually not hiding his feelings and acting like his old self again. He also though it might help to have Tanya along as well, the more children he had with him, the more it might increase his chances of selling more violins, esp. if people saw he had a family to support.

"Would you like to come to Tanya?" Papa asked "The more the merrier!"

Tanya eyes brightened, she loved watching Papa playing and selling violins and it give her some more time with her brother, maybe she could even get him to open up a little.

"I would love to come!" Tanya said excitedly

"And while you're at it" Mama added "you can also hang some of this laundry up."

"Okay Mama" Tanya said, just happy that she was invited to come along.

As soon as the three climbed out of the purse Fievel was the first to literally jump onto the little basket that bought them down to the street, without even hesitating. He never liked staying on top of the purse, mostly because he didn't want to look down, he only felt safe when he was on the inside. Tanya quickly followed holding the laundry in her hand, followed by Papa with a handful of violins to sell all wrapped in a blanket, and all hand made by him.

The three walked along the busy Hester Street filled with all sorts of mice who were buying and selling things and just doing their daily mundane activities. After finding a spot, Papa then started playing hoping to attract an audience. He played quite a few lively tunes and mice would often stop by to glance at him, some even started to form a little crowd. Fievel sat next to his papa and watched him with glee, often tapping his foot to the beat. Tanya danced around while she hung up the laundry on a small clothes line underneath a human clothes line in an ally way, taking in the sound of papa playing lively on his violin.

When Papa was finished all the mice clapped and just then Fievel opened up the bundle of extra violins, which Papa held up offering 50 cents per violin, and one dollar to anyone who wanted to learn how to play. While some mice did buy violins, others just offered money for giving them such an enjoyable show and others actually asked for lessons. Fievel gave out the violins to those who had bought one, tipping his hat to each and every person.

"Fievel" Papa asked "could you go see how Tanya is doing?"

Fievel expression suddenly turned from happy to worried, he didn't like the thought of leaving Papa's side, and suddenly he remembered the cat attack that had happed right on this very street. It made him think that any moment something could happen and he could be separated from Papa all over again.

"But Papa" Fievel said meekly "I would rather stay with you"

"Fievel" Papa said back "Tanya is right over there, just go over and see how the laundry is coming along, it will only take a moment, and when you come back I'll still be here."

"Yes Papa" Fievel responded, unfortunately Fievel wasn't paying attention when Papa had pointed out which ally Tanya had gone into to hang up the laundry and a nasty surprise waited for him down the one he did go down.

"Tanya?"Fievel asked, looking around for his sister, but he didn't see anyone there

"Well, well, well, what do we have here fellas?" came a voice from behind him

Fievel slowly turned around only to see the three orphans who had bullied him the night he found himself on Orphan Alley, all of them with nasty smiles on their faces.

"So I guess were not good enough for you?" said Sammy the one with the big hat on his head

"Yeah after we even gave you hey to make yourself a bed" said Roc the cubby one with long hair

"Then next morning you up and disappear on us" added Simon the one with the glasses

"I found my family" Fievel replied weakly literally scared that something bad was about to happen to him. Why couldn't Papa have just let him stay with him?

The three orphans all looked at each other with a mix of confusion and anger

"How did you find your family!" demanded Simon "I spent years looking for them and got nothing!"

"They were looking for me" Fievel responded back with a completely pleading look on his face.

"Is that where you got the stupid hat from?" Sammy asked with a vicious smile, "a welcome home gift from mommy and daddy?"

Roc then quickly grabbed the hat from Fievel's head, "how about a game of monkey in the middle?" he said smiling

The three boys then all tossed Fievel's hat around as Fievel ran around trying his best to catch it, but every time one caught it they would toss it to another, all three of them chanting and laughing "monkey in the middle"

Tears then started to well up in Fievel's eyes as now his fear was starting to turn into frustration and anger. Just as Roc caught the hat and without even thinking Fievel grabbed Roc's arms and bit it real hard causing Roc to scream out in pain and drop the hat.

Before Fievel could do anything else Simon and Sammy both grabbed him and shoved him hard to the floor.

"So you want to play tough, huh?" Sammy asked angrily "let's see how tough you really are"

"He's mine" Roc said angrily

Sammy and Simon both separated allowing Fievel to see Roc who was clenching his fist together ready to pound them into the little mouse.

"You are gonna regret the day you ever met me" Roc said with a look of pure hatred on his face

"Hey Potato for brains" said a voice from behind him

Roc turned around only to get decked real hard in the face, he then literally collapsed right onto the floor face first

Fievel watched as Roc went down hard and slowly looked up to see his friend Tony Toponi looking ready for a fight. Fievel quickly got up and ran behind his friend; Tony gave him a reassuring smile before turning around to face the orphans again.

"This mouse is with me" Tony said sternly to both Sammy and Simon "I suggest you back off before you end up like your friend here."

"We're not afraid of you!" Simon said

"Yeah, bring it on!" added Sammy

Just then Roc got back up and both Simon and Sammy smiled

"See" said Sammy, "there's three of us and only one of you"

"Oh you might want to rethink that" Tony said cracking a smile

Just then a big shadow emerged over the three orphans and the three of them turned around only to be face to face with a certain big orange cat

"Hi ya fellas" Tiger said smiling

The three orphans all looked at Tiger eyes wide

"You're a?" said Roc meekly

"A cat" Tiger said finishing his sentence

"Let's get out of here!" Roc screamed and with that all three orphans ran out of the alley screaming and literally running by Tanya with the folded up laundry, who now wondered what was going on and having the same curious nature as her brother decided to check it out.

Tony picked up Fievel's hat and brushed it off as Fievel sat on the floor doing his best to try and get his bearings after everything that just happened.

"You all right Philly?" Tony asked extending his hand to help Fievel off the floor

"Yeah I guess so" Fievel responded passively, Tony handed him back his hat, rather than put it on Fievel just held it in his hands

"Gee, what was that all about?" Tiger asked

"It was nothing" Fievel said

"That was nothing?" Tony asked surprised "Philly those guys were about to pounce on you."

"Yeah Fievel, you should really be more careful" added Tiger

"I was being careful!" Fievel snapped

"Sorry" Tiger responded putting his head down. Tony looked at Fievel with a mix of surprise and concern; Fievel had never been forceful with anyone, at least not anyone that Tony had seen, especially those who were his friends.

Fievel having realized what he had just done looked up Tiger with his ears down and a completely apologetic expression. "I'm sorry Tiger" Fievel said blinking back some tears

"Fievel" Tanya said coming upon the scene with a look of pure concern "Fievel are you okay?"

"He's fine" Tony responded for him "just had a little run in with some bullies, I think it was those punks from Orphan Alley."

"Yeah, but we took care of em real good" added Tiger showing that he had completely forgiven Fievel for snapping at him.

"Yeah I don't think their gonna be bothering you again" Tony said looking down at Fievel, with a smile

Just then everyone heard the voice of Papa calling, "Fievel, Tanya" Papa called out. Fievel quickly ran out of the alley way and over to Papa, putting his hat on.

"Is he really okay?" Tiger asked Tony more than a bit worried

"Tiger I think our friend is pretty far from okay" Tony responded looking back up at Tiger

Just then Tony looked over to see that Tanya was still there and was looking at them both with a worried expression.

"Maybe you shouldn't have said that in front of her?" Tiger said

Tony gave an annoyed look "maybe you shouldn't have asked me that question in front of her" he replied

"Its okay" Tanya said "I'm worried about him to, he never wants to leave either Papa or Mama's side and he won't talk about anything that happened."

Tony and Tiger both looked at each other, it was pretty obvious Fievel was anything but fine, of course Tony was anything but surprised, Fievel had gone through a lot. Getting swiped into the ocean in the middle of a raging storm, getting sold to a sweat shop, chased by cats, taken prisoner by them and then getting lost in the middle of a fire only to end up on Orphan Alley, not to mention missing his family the entire time, yeah Tony was anything but shocked. Even Tiger had more than a little understanding of what Fievel was going through and why he was keeping it to himself. When he was with the Mott Street Maulers he often spent his time hiding who he really was, otherwise the gang would reject him outright and with the Maulers you were either with or against them.

"He did go through a lot" Tony finally responded

"Like what?" Tanya asked

"I don't think that's our place to tell you" Tony responded "but let's just say, it was a lot"

"I just want to help" Tanya replied looking slightly let down

"You are helping" Tony replied with a smile

"She is?" Tiger asked

"Sure she is, she's there for him, just like we are" He said turning back to Tiger before finally turning around again to face Tanya again "just be there for him when he needs you and trust me he's gonna need you."

Tanya smiled at the words of encouragement from her friends, though she really considered them to be Fievel's friend, but any friend of her brother was pretty much a friend of hers. Just then she finally paid attention as Papa was calling for her, she quickly hurried out of the alley way with Tiger and Tony coming out behind her. Papa smiled as he saw his daughter, then saw the two friends of Fievel who had both helped to reunite the entire family.

"If I remember correctly, you are Tony" Papa said looking at the Italian mouse

"Yep, you got it" Tony said tipping his hat to Papa

"And you are Fievel's cat friend" Papa asked

"I'm Tiger" Tiger responded with a bit of a smile

"Please forgive me; I am still not use to actually seeing a friendly cat." Papa said sheepishly causing Tanya to giggle and Fievel to even crack a little smile.

"We should get going" Papa said looking down at his children, "we still have many more spots to visit"

"Yeah we should get going to Tiger" said Tony "we still got papers to sell"

"You're selling papers?" Fievel asked curiously

"Newspapers" Tony said "gotta make me some money if I want to be able to provide for Bridget when she gets back."

"Where did she go?" Tanya asked

"Chicago I think" Tony said "Her and Gussie expanded the no cats movement around the country, hoping to rally other mice in other cities to unite against the cats. I decided to stay here and watch over things, plus make some money of my own, maybe I'll even get rich.

"Yeah and I'm his business partner" said Tiger with a smile

"Business partner and mode of transportation" Tony added "with all the papers that Tiger here can carry, we'll be rolling in dough, and Bridget will be so impressed when she gets back." Tony said with an optimistic smile. Just then Tony looked up at Tiger when he finally realized that he didn't have any of the newspapers on him.

"Tiger" Tony asked worriedly "where are all the papers?"

"I left them back in the alley" Tiger responded, "at least I think I did" he added with a confused look

"Ugh" Tony responded with an annoyed look "okay let's go found them before there all gone and we end up getting fired."

"We can help to" Papa then offered always being more than willing to help out if need be

"That's okay we wouldn't want to keep you" Tony said

"It's no trouble at all, it's certainly the least we can do" Papa responded

"So long as it is okay with you Fievel" Papa added

"I guess so" Fievel said responded with his hands in his pockets

"Are you all right my son?" Papa finally asked

"I'm, I'm fine" Fievel responded with his best half smile

The four mice eventually all went to a corner next to where Fievel had his run in with the three orphan mice. Tony and Tiger had been there taking a break since they had been out since the crack of dawn selling papers, Tony even used the gimmick of Tiger being a big friendly cat who would do tricks for kids if their parents bought a newspaper. Thankfully all the papers still seemed tol be sitting there much to Tony's extreme relief.

"Still there" Tony exclaimed happily "next time just bring the papers with you Tiger"

"Sure thing Tony" Tiger responded feeling more than a little embarrassed that he had left all the papers behind.

"Here you go Mr. M" Tony said handing Papa a paper "free of charge"

"Yeah but don't tell anyone, we could get into big trouble" added Tiger.

"Thank you Tony" Papa said graciously taking the paper "come now children, we still have much more to do" Papa then told Fievel and Tanya

To be continued


	3. Looking up at the stars

Tanya stood a top of the purse that was her family house, she looked out below the city and her mind drifted to Tony's words about Fievel having gone through a lot. She knew that even if Fievel did tell her everything there wasn't anything that she could do about it, what happened, happened, and she herself had done all she could do to help her brother. She then started to hum her new song Dreams to Dreams to herself, she still hadn't shared it with anyone, she hoped that Fievel would get to be the first that she would sing it to, little did she know she was about to get her chance.

Fievel was inside the purse watching over his little sister Yasha while Mama cooked and Papa built more violins. It was not like Fievel to ever want to watch over his baby sister, though in truth Fievel really did love both his sisters, he took off in the middle of a cat attack just to keep her from crying. Though with everything that had happened Fievel doubted if he would ever do something like that ever again; while Mama and Papa cooked, Fievel amazed his little sister with tales of The Mouse of Minsk and The Mouse with the long hair, knowing full well she couldn't really understand him.

But Yasha did often smile and move excitedly when Fievel would often get up and start acting out some of the scenes, just then Fievel decided to tell Yasha another little story.

"You know that big statue out on the ocean Yasha? Well I know the pigeon that's building it, his name is Henri and he's the one who told me too "never say never," I would love for you to meet and to see his statue. Want to know how I met Tiger? Those mean cats had captured me when I went down into the sewer thinking it was Papa playing his violin, but Tiger helped me escape."

Yasha looked up at her brother with eyes wide open just seeming to enjoy the sound of voice, even if he was whispering it so no one would hear. Fievel as far as he could tell just liked that he could tell a little bit of his story, without having anyone feel sorry for him or judge him or ask him questions that would lead him to think about things he really didn't want to think about like the sweat shop or Warren T. Rat.

Just then Yasha attention got drawn to above the purse, it sounded like someone was singing and from the sound of the voice it was Tanya.

"Dreams to Dreams in the dark of the night, when the world goes wrong I can still make it right." Tanya sang catching the attention of everyone inside the house.

"Tanya singing again" Papa said with a chuckle "one of these days she's going to upset the neighbors"

Yasha looked around trying to find where the melody was coming from, she then looked at Fievel almost as if asking him to go up there and find it for her.

"Perhaps you could go up there and get her to come down, it's almost time for dinner" Mama said

Fievel looked down at Yasha again who just smiled up at him, "why me?" he asked

Yasha just smiled and giggled, telling Fievel in her own baby way that she wanted him to go bring Tanya back for her. Fievel who would do anything for his little sister then shot up from his spot.

"I can get Tanya" Fievel said

"Are you sure?" Papa asked surprised knowing full well that Fievel never wanted to go up there, esp. without him or Mama

"Yeah, I can get her" Fievel said with a nervous tone

"I'm not so sure that is a good idea Fievel" Mama said with a worried tone

As much as Papa wanted to agree, Fievel was never going to overcome anything if he and Mama kept him down when he was finally ready to at least try. Besides Tanya was up there and she wasn't going to let anything happen to Fievel, no one in the family was.

"I think it's a great idea" Papa said with smile "just don't take too long out there"

With that Fievel slowly climbed up and peeked his head out of the purse where he saw his sister leaning up against the handle singing the song loudly too herself.

"I can see, so far in my dreams, my dreams will come true"

Fievel got to his feet and stood behind Tanya for a second not saying a word, just listening to her song, he smiled a bit, remembering his own dreams of finding his family and discovering America.

"That's beautiful" Fievel finally said

Tanya turned around only to be face to face with her brother who had his hands in his pockets and a bit of smile of his face.

"Fievel" Tanya exclaimed happily as she gave her brother a hug happily surprised that her brother had finally found the courage to come outside.

"Do you really like my song; I'm still working on it?" Tanya said pulling away so she could talk to her brother

Fievel smiled, "it's great!" he said then he looked past his sister and out into the city as the sky was getting dark, the stars were coming out and the moon started raising. It suddenly reminded him of the night he spent at Bridget's, just then he unknowingly started talking

"Just like at Bridget's!" Fievel said

"What's like at Bridget's?" Tanya asked curiously

Fievel had just realized his mistake, for a moment he thought of just denying everything, but he had already done that so many times before and made Tanya feel bad in the process. Sighing Fievel finally decided to share something with his sister.

"The moon, the stars" Fievel said looking up "When me and Tony stayed with Bridget, I watched it come up over the city, I wondered where you were. It's not as nice over here as it was over there, I wish you had been there, you would've loved it" Fievel said now looking at Tanya with a sad smile, still remembering just how lonely he had felt.

"I often stood here wondering where you were" Tanya replied to him smiling "I would come here and look down at the city to see if I could see you, day and night."

The words bought a big grin to her brother's face though he still kept his hands firmly in his pockets showing he was still a little nervous being up there.

"Thanks Tanya" Fievel finally said

"For what" Tanya asked leaning her head against the handle of the purse and looking back up at the moon.

"For never giving up on me" Fievel finally said, "even when" Fievel ended it there though he wanted to tell that while she had never given up on him, he had in fact completely given up the night he spent on orphan alley. He didn't even believe it when she heard his voice calling for him or when he had initially heard Papa's violin playing, he had told himself he was imagining things and that he would never see his family again. He really didn't want to tell her that though, and the fact that she had never given up even when everyone was telling her that he was dead made him feel all the more worse about it.

Tanya turned around when she heard Fievel about to continue then just randomly stop, for a moment she thought about pressing him to keep going, but then decided to just leave it as is. She instead smiled and pulled her brother into a loving hug.

"I will never give up on you, ever" she whispered into his ear.

Just then both siblings heard the sound of Papa calling out to them from down below.

"Fievel, Tanya, time to come down you two!" he called out

Fievel and Tanya jumped back inside the purse, mama looked at them with hands on her hips, and she specifically focused on Fievel

"Now didn't Papa tell you not to take so long?" Mama scolded

"It's fine Mama!" Papa interjected "I think our children needed to spend a little time together." From the glow around his daughter and even the more relaxed look on his son, he could tell that it was time well spent.

"Oh papa" Mama said before turning to Fievel and Tanya "come now you two, you have to wash up and have your supper before its gets cold" she said picking up Yasha's bottle.

"Yes Mama" they said at once

While being picked up by Mama, Yasha looked over to glance at Fievel and gave him a happy smile. Fievel gave a little smile back, happy he had finally done something right for his little sister and bought Tanya back.

To be continued


	4. A friend returns

The next day a large crowd of mice gathered around all watching a certain big orange cat that was doing his best at juggling and not doing the greatest. Tiger would constantly drop the balls and every now and again would trip over himself, but all the kids in the crowd loved the sight of the big lovable cat. Meanwhile Tony took full advantage of the crowd selling papers to whoever stopped by to watch Tiger attempt to perform a trick, if they had kids he would often use the sell point of the paper having a little game or story that that the kids could enjoy.

"Get your papers here, only 25 cents" Tony would say holding the paper up "Read the news or have some fun doing a crossword with your kids."

Once the show was over and the audience clapped, Tony went over to Tiger with his cat full of coins.

"So how'd we do?" Tiger asked looking in

"Not bad, though I think you got to learn some more tricks, the juggling act is starting to lose em"

"Don't worry Tony, I've already got my next act all lined up" Tiger said pulling out a small little mouse doll

"Meet my little friend Henry" Tiger said smiling "Hi Tony, pleased to meet you" Tiger said attempting to disguise his voice to sound like a mouse and making it pretty obvious he was the one who was talking.

"First thing" Tony said pointing at the doll "that is not a dummy, that's a rag doll"

Tiger looked at the doll with a confused expression

"And second you use that and many of the mice will probably get the wrong idea."

"Like what?" Tiger asked still looking a bit confused

"Cat" Tony said pointing at Tiger, and then he pointed at the doll "mouse"

"Figure it out buddy" Tony concluded

"Oh, oh" Tiger said smiling sheepishly, then he quickly hid the doll out of site

"I knew you had some brains" Tony said patting Tiger on the leg

"Hey Tony" said a small voice from behind them

Tony and Tiger both looked over to see Fievel approaching them being followed by his sister Tanya.

"Hey Philly and uh" Tony struggled trying to remember Tanya's name, normally he was good at remembering names, but seeing as how the two only had a handful of encounters and when they first met they were all desperately searching for her brother, he let her name escape him. Mostly due to never having needed to really use it before.

"Tanya" Tiger chimed in excitedly "I remember, your name is Tanya"

"Nice to see someone remembers my name" Tanya said with a smile

"Hey I remember your name, I just got a lot on my mind is all" Tony said defensively

"Oh yeah, is that you keep calling my brother Philly?" Tanya replied back

Tony crossed his arms over his chest, he didn't like getting mocked too much and besides its not like changing names was anything new to America, everyone here had a new name or nickname.

"Oh yeah and didn't anyone give you a new name?" Tony replied back

"I hate that name" Tanya replied back with slight annoyance

"You got a new name?" Fievel asked turning to look at his sister finally "why did you get a new name?"

"I don't know, it was never explained, but I hate it" Tanya said thinking of how much the name Tilly just didn't fit her

"Oh yeah and what is it?" Tony asked with a bit of a smile

"Tilly" Tanya finally said rolling her eyes a bit

"Hey doesn't Tilly rhyme with Philly?" Tiger asked

"Philly, Tilly" Tony said smiling "it works"

"I hate that name" Tanya said annoyed

"Tilly sounds nice" Fievel replied

"I hate that name!" Tanya responded with a slight scream and extreme annoyance

"Sorry, I was just trying to help" Fievel responded.

Normally Fievel would've just kept on with his playful teasing but it was pretty clear that he wasn't trying to tease her at all. Tanya tried to quickly think of something to help her fix her mistake but Fievel just put his head down with only his hat showing and with his hands behind his back walked to the side of the street, still in eye view but by himself.

"Fievel wait" she tried calling out to him as he sat by himself and rolled up in a tiny ball just waiting for Papa to come and pick them up.

"_Good job Tanya_" she thought to herself, just when she finally thought she was getting Fievel to come out of his shell and finally managed to get him to step five feet away from Papa, who was currently giving musical lessons to a group of children she up and loses it over a silly name.

"Sorry" Tony chimed in seeing that unlike her brother she was a lot less open to having her name changed. "Tanya it is" he said trying to smooth the tension

"I think Tanya is a very pretty name" Tiger added

Fievel sat by himself once again feeling like he had completely messed up, he could barely do anything right anymore he thought to himself. He just wanted to make Tanya feel better, just like he wanted Yasha to stop crying back in Russia when he attempted to chase away the cats. Of course both ended in disaster and now he really wished he had just stayed with Papa instead of going off with Tanya to see Tiger and Tony. At least with Papa stuff like this wouldn't be happening

Meanwhile up on a rooftop Henri the pigeon sat looking down at all the mice in the city, he had heard that they had finally all gathered together to do something about the cats and from the looks of it the rumors were true. The mice all walked around going about their lives, none running or hiding, of course Henri knew that there were more cats in America, but in this city, they had stood their ground and the cats knew they were a force to be reckoned with.

"Now this is America" Henri happily thought to himself with a smile

He happily watched as unbeknownst to him Papa Mousekwitz lively played his violin for a group of happy children and parents, and he even bore witness to Tiger trying to do tricks for another group of kids. Tiger so far was one of the very few cats to have been seen since the mice drove out Warren T. Rat and The Mott Street Maulers, and a friendly one to boot.

As Henri was about to fly back to Liberty Island to finish his statue, he finally noticed a familiar looking hat belonging to a certain mouse who was sitting by himself. _"Could it be?"_ he asked himself looking down to the figure sitting curled up in the corner

Meanwhile sitting in an alleyway not far from Fievel, Tanya sat resting her head on top of elbows, Tiger and Tony sat across from her nobody saying a word till Tiger finally spoke up.

"Cheer up guys, I'm sure Fievel will be all right" he said with a smile "he's just stunned is all"

"Yeah, yeah I'm sure your right" Tony replied, of course both could see their words weren't helping Tanya who sat across from them looking miserable

"That's it!" Tiger finally said "we got to help our little buddy"

"And I know just how were gonna do it!"

"Oh this should be good" Tony said putting his hand to his head

"We hang Fievel off a clothes line and splash water on him, and then when it falls we catch him, that way he won't be scared anymore.

"Yeah that's assuming we don't scare him to death first" Tony responded

"NO!" Tanya said finally speaking up, not liking the idea of making Fievel any worse then he already was, and now starting to think that despite her own good intentions that maybe she really wasn't helping him at all.

Meanwhile back on the street Henri finally managed to get a better look at Fievel, he had often wondered about the little mouse and if he had managed to find his family. From the looks of it Fievel was sitting alone, making Henri think that maybe all was not well. Maybe he could give the little mouse a helping hand; he'd hate to see him lose hope.

"Fievel, my little friend" Henri said slowly flying down to approach the little mouse

Fievel looked up and not being able to see Henri clearly he panicked, screamed and ran thinking something was attacking him. He wasn't looking where he was going and crashed into a vendor, nearly knocking the whole thing down.

"You all right kid?" the vendor asked looking down at Fievel who was laying on the floor in pain

Just then Tanya came running out of the alley after hearing Fievel's scream; she saw Fievel on the floor with some knocked down fruits from the vendor that he had crashed into.

"Fievel!" she screamed running over to him just going by her older sibling instincts at this point

"Fievel, are you okay?" she asked kneeling down in front of him

"Fievel it is all right, it is me Henri" Henri told the little mouse who looked up at him panicked and breathing hard, before finally hugging onto his sister real tight

"Its okay little brother, I'm here" Tanya said hugging him back and echoing the words she would repeat to Fievel when he would have one of his nightmares

"So you did find your family" Henri exclaimed happily having heard Tanya refer to Fievel as her younger brother

Fievel finally looked up at Henri seeing that it was the face of the first friend he had made in America and not a predator out to eat him. He finally managed to calm down but was still breathing hard.

"Henri" Fievel finally managed to say "I'm sorry, I thought it was"

"No apologies my friend, I should have known better then to startle you" Henri replied with a smile.

Henri could clearly see that he had unintentionally scared the boy and now just wanted to try and make him as relaxed possible. Even after finding his family it still seemed like Fievel's struggles weren't over yet, maybe there was something he could do to help.

Just then Tony and Tiger approached, "this bird giving you trouble Fievel?" Tiger asked trying to act tough and with the desire to protect his friend, even if he was still a scaredy cat.

"Relax Tiger" Tony responded putting his hand up "I think its okay"

"My apologies" Henri said bowing to everyone "my name is Henri, Fievel is a friend of mine"

"Yeah you were the first person I met when I crawled out of the bottle that bought me here" Fievel said "you told me to never say never" he added finally getting up with Tanya's help

"Wee, wee and it seems you have taken that advice to heart" Henri said back happily

"I tried" Fievel said shrugging, still remembering his night on Orphan Alley

"Don't sell yourself short" Tony said smiling "you did great"

"I'm Tanya, Fievel's sister" Tanya said courtesying to Henri, happy to meet yet another one of Fievel's friends

"Pleasure to meet you Tanya" Henri said "has Fievel told you about my statue?"

"You have a statue?" Tony asked with a bit of a laugh, not taking the statement very seriously

"And who might you be?" Henri asked

"Tony Toponi the name" Tony said putting his hand out "put it there"

Henri shook Tony's hand and tipped his hat to him

"My name is Tiger" Tiger said clutching his tail and smiling "Fievel's our buddy to"

"Please to meet you" Henri said "and yes I am building a statue in the doorway of America called Liberty" he responded in his French accent

"Liberty, wait a second that's not that statue there building out there on the ocean, is it?" Tony asked in disbelief "the one that's supposed to stand for freedom?"

Tony couldn't believe that this pigeon was really claiming to be the one building that statue. Or that Fievel would really have that kinda luck to meet the one who was building the statue that everyone was going to be dying to see. Then again Fievel did tend to have some pretty strange luck when it came down to it.

"Wee, wee" Henri responded "that it is indeed"

"It's true" Fievel said, "I saw it"

"Yes you even helped me a little with it" Henri added, "she is nearly done and looking beautiful, perhaps you would like to see her?"

"You could bring your family and friends; I would love everyone to see her when she is ready."

"How would we get there?" Fievel asked

"Fly of course" Henri responded "you've done it before"

"I would like to, but, I don't know" Fievel said putting his hands behind his back

As of right now there were several thoughts going through Fievel's mind, thoughts of everything that could go wrong being so high up in the sky, not to mention being above the ocean. Would he even survive a second drop into the ocean? He barely survived the first one as it was.

"Yeah I'm with Philly" Tony said "we mice were meant to keep our feet to the ground"

"I would like to see his statue" Tiger said

"I would love to see it to" Tanya said excitedly "that's if Fievel wants to see it" she said putting her hands behind her back

"I don't know" Fievel admitted "I mean what if something happens?"

Henri could see what was going on with Fievel; the boy had found his family again, now he was afraid of losing them again. The boy had been scarred by his experience, and those scars were never going to heal if didn't allow himself to see that not every risk ends badly. But he couldn't force Fievel either, only make the invitation and hope Fievel would trust him not to allow anything to happen to him, or any one of his family of friends.

"Well there is no rush, there is still more work to be done, but when you are ready the invitation is always there"

With that Henri soared high up into the sky as the mice and their one cat friend all watched after him. There was still work to be done and he wanted to finish up as soon as he could, he had put so much time and hard work into building his statue, now the time had come for her to help someone who was in need.

To be continued


End file.
